Masters Running

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Race reports for April 28 &29, 2018 (Read 30 times)

Mariposai


    Wishing a speedy race to all our racers this weekend.

    "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

    pfriese


      OKC Memorial Half Marathon this morning in 1:50:27. I'm still hacking & coughing, but it sure felt good not to race in monsoon conditions like the last 2 weekends. Light breeze, sunny & 58 at the start. About 72 at the finish. Beating the heat seemed to be a good goal for today. I spotted the 1:50 pace group a bit ahead of me at the start & just kept them close. They started pulling away in the last mile though. Other than hacking & coughing, I felt good the whole way. I seemed to be recovered from Boston. Now to find a nice 5K next weekend. Smile

       

      Paul

       

      Mta: race picture from around mile 7.

      Mariposai


        Hoof'n and Woof'n 5k, Riverside, WA.

        This fun run 1 mile and 5k is our back to back race weekend for our Fit 4 Life Coalition.

        Yesterday I was a race director. Today was all about running a 5k with the cutest furry friends in the Hoof'n and Woof'n fun run.

        My first race post "knee" injury. I surprised myself with a 29:29 finish, which is about 2 minutes faster than all my runs in the last 6 months.

        The Easy Pacer and I tied to third place overall Smile

        "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

          This was a last minute decision when I got a free entry for this new 5 & 10k from the local Toyota dealership.  The owner is a runner and friend (plus I bought a Prius Prime from him recently).  Still making progress!  It wasn't advertised as chip timed and didn't see a chip mat, so I did gun time on my watch, and I ran the 10k, but there's a significant difference between my official time of 53:20 and my watch time in my favor, and there was a chip built into the bib.  So that's a new NM/altitude PR!...Wait-now it's about the same as my watch-so disorganized.

           

          There's a female runner about my age and we run a lot of races at similar speed so we ran most of this one together, but she's like a metronome and I started to fall back. It was fun to finish on a high school track and I could see her around the curve! She got an award and I told her afterwards, "You just don't know how good you are!" Like a lot of good runners, she downplays her ability and kept saying before the race how she would struggle to stay with me, but as usual, the opposite was true. Feels so good to support another runner like Des & Shalane at Boston.

          "I didn’t run a race until I was 41 and that was a marathon! Let that sink in for a minute." -me

          Mike E


          MM #5615

            My training for the Delaware Marathon went really well. I was able to hit all of my goal paces in every workout. My body was…okay. I’m still struggling with a knot in my left glute and some discomfort in my left hamstring. In fact, a week and a half before the marathon, my left hamstring started feeling very uncomfortable. I was a little worried and started doing heat treatments every night, which seemed to work.

             

            The flight into Philadelphia on Saturday was okay until the last 45 minutes, or so, when we flew through a thunder storm. The plane was rocking and going up and down and it was making my stomach churn. I was glad to get back on the ground but my stomach never seemed to settle down. I got about 3 hours of sleep…off and on. Finally, at about 3:30, I just got up and started getting ready. My stomach was still not feeling great.

             

            I went to the starting area, picked up my race packet, and went back to the car to try to relax. It was cold and windy and I was foolishly agonizing over how I should dress. Shirt, or no shirt…gloves or no gloves…sunglasses or no sunglasses.   I, finally, just decided I’d rather be too warm, than too cold, and if I really had to, I could take things off.

             

            The gun went off and we took off. I had worn two watches…my Apple Watch and my GPS. I started them both but noticed my Apple Watch didn’t look right so, for the first quarter mile, or so, I was fiddling with that stupid thing, I, finally, got it going and determined that it was about 2 minutes behind for the total time. After I got the watch squared away, I settled in for the race.

             

            This was a two loop course that started with a half marathon so it was hard to tell who was in which race. Luckily, I’ve been in too many of these that are done this way and was smart enough to just run my pace and not get caught up in who was ahead of me. I was, actually, quite proud of myself for sticking to my goal pace and running my own race.

             

            The course was terrible. There were so many turns and overlapping areas and spots that weren’t marked real well—I am amazed I didn’t get lost—and I’m sure I would have if it weren’t for a kid, I’ll call RC.

             

            When we started the second lap of the course, RC was the only guy I could see that didn’t turn off for the finish of the half. I was sure there were more ahead of us but not sure of how many. I was about 10 yards behind him when he flew up his hands and yelled, “Do we turn here or go straight?” He quickly recovered and found a mark but I yelled back him that he better know where he’s going because I was relying on him to lead us the right way. He kind of laughed as I caught up to him and we started talking a little bit. At one point, he went straight but I just happened to see an arrow on the ground turning us to the right, so I called him back on course.

             

            Making that right turn also put us right into 18 to 20 mph winds so I suggested that we take turns blocking the wind for each other. He agreed and off we went. I’m not sure what it is about working with somebody like that that gets me so pumped up but I just love it. The miles just flew by as we continued to work together to get through those tough patches.

             

            But, as we made our way up a mile long hill around mile 20, I told him he was going to have to go on his own. He separated a bit but, somehow, I managed to hang on closer than I thought I would. We got to the top of the hill, though, and my legs were feeling very strange. I felt like they were on the verge of cramping up and shutting down. I stopped at a water station, took some time to open a packet of GU, washed it down real good with some water and got back into the race. Magically, that seemed to do the trick. I saw RC way up ahead of me and started my chase.

             

            I caught and passed RC around the 22 mile mark…just as my Garmin shut down. I looked at my Apple Watch, added 2 minutes to it and calculated that, if I stayed on pace, I could get under 3 hours. 2 miles later, my Apple watch shut down. So, with 2 miles to go and no way of telling how fast I was going, I just gave it everything I had.

             

            It is a very cruel race director who puts a hill at mile 25 of a marathon…this one was evil to the core. It was about a half mile long and I was working so hard trying to get to the top. And when I did…man was that downhill nice! I had no idea how much time that had taken, so I flew. When I made the final turn to the finish and noticed there was still a 2 on the clock, I knew I had done it.

             

            I have only gotten under 3 hours in 2 marathons since I turned 50 and, at 59, this just felt so good. I was very happy. But I was even happier when I saw RC cross the line in 2:59:35 and watched as he and his dad, who had done the half and was waiting for him on the side, celebrated his accomplishment. We congratulated each other and he told me how this was his first marathon but didn’t want to tell me while we were running. Then he told his dad how we had run together and that he had to have a picture of him and me. That was pretty cool. By the way, RC is in his first year at the Naval Academy, which is even more cool.

             

            Anyway—that just about covers it. Oh—wait—after I picked up my bag of gear, I stopped at the results tent and saw that I had placed 4th overall and 1st in my age group. Because they had told us that all age group awards would be mailed to us, I was kind of relieved that I wasn’t going to have to wait around for the awards ceremony to pick up a top 3 finish award.

             

            So, I went back to my car, put all my warm clothes on and decided to check my phone for any texts or calls. Of course there were several messages from a group text including my daughters who had been tracking me during the race. They were talking about how I had just passed a guy and was, now, in 3rd.   They were convinced I had taken third and they were, obviously, very happy about it. I felt bad when I had to text them that, no…I came in 4th. Then one of them sent me a snapshot of the tracking results, and it said 3rd. So, I walked back to the results table to find out what was going on and was told that a guy had cut off part of the course and was being disqualified. I’m sure this guy made an honest mistake—like I said, that course was terrible—and I still feel kind of bad that I snuck in and grabbed the 3rd place overall trophy…but, I’ll get over it.

             

            Okay—that’s it. 2:58:53.6. If you haven’t noticed…that’s under 3…

             

            And...the trophy...

            Image may contain: indoor

            Mariposai


              That trophy is amazing!! Congrats, MikeE. Your race report is so inspiring to us all! You are one gifted  runner!'

              Opie, your training is serving you good! Keep up the great job!!

              PFriese, you are a racing machine.

               

              Good job weekend racers!!!

              "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

              Tramps


                Paul--great that you finally got some decent weather. You've been on quite a streak!

                Mari--sounds like a great weekend.

                Opie--nice friend to have.  Always better to run with/after someone; well done.

                Mike--you need more watches! Awesome race, especially with a confusing course.  And that trophy's a classic!  It looks a little top-heavy, though. Don't knock it over and break it! 

                Be safe. Be kind.


                Marathon Maniac #957

                  Boy this was a great weekend of racing!  Love to hear about your adventures, and Mike - that is indeed some trophy!

                  Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."

                  C-R


                    Great raving all.

                     

                    Nice trophy Mike

                     

                     

                    That's my race report


                    "He conquers who endures" - Persius
                    "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel

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